Wizardoms: Eye of Obscurance (Fate of Wizardoms) Paperback – September 11, 2019

When the male MC enters the story dressed as a woman, all in the name of his shady trade (and without batting an eyelid, of course), you know it's going to be good! There are no limits when planning a heist!Eye of Obscurance, the first book of the Fate of Wizardoms, features fantastic world-building, an interesting magic system, and even mythological creatures, all described to the perfect amount!The story centres around an entertaining cast of characters. Rhoa - a small girl with a big heart and full of fierceness; Jace - a snarky, slightly abrasive but hilarious thief (grapefruits, lol!); Narine - a soft but daring wizardess; Rawk - an innocent, compassionate and loyal maker, and MORE!Yes, there are more! And I loved every single one of them! The characters are fleshed-out and beautifully written, with clearly defined voices of their own, and they all have a role to play as the story runs its course through Eye of Obscurance.It is easy to get lost in the tale because of its engaging nature, and you find yourself wanting to dig back in as soon as you are forced to put the book down. It's a real page-turner, exciting from cover to cover, action-packed, high-paced and utterly fabulous!Eye of Obscurance is a great start to what seems an exciting series, and I look forward to reading the rest. I recommend this to everyone who enjoys epic fantasy because this is the genre at its best!Note: I have listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator, Travis Baldree, does a great job at bringing the characters to life, and he keeps you at the edge of your seat as the magic (and action) happens!

4 main stories thread together 49% of the way through in this massive, world building, wizard filled epic. The thief, the acrobat, and the dwarf walk into a bar... isn't that how the joke would go? The action, and the detail is no joke, and the end is a satisfying doom setting pulling the reader through to the next book. The author grows in his dialogue and I was hooked in the end by the creative magic. The amount of time spent on both the magic rules, the topography, the characters and the lore/world building make this a great book for those who like to hop off this plane and into another. Multiple POV, a few flashbacks build unique characters that could be full novels unto themselves.

I won a free copy of the audiobook and was excited to get to finally meet the characters I've heard so much about. I was not disappointed.It was a very creative cast: Jace, a thief/assassin/opportunist who had taken a contract to steal a magical artifact and kill a wizard lord; Rhoa, an acrobat set on avenging the unjust deaths of her parents; Rawk, a dwarf and stone carver; and Narine, princess and wizardess who was somehow kinder than her high-class status dictates. And of course Salvon, storyteller extraordinaire, wise man, and friend to children. Read as a standalone, this is a story of revenge, but hints throughout point to a deeper plot which I'm sure will be explored in the rest of the series.The worldbuilding was very cool. Regions are controlled by wizard lords whose powers are enhanced by the gods they serve. These powers extend their lives so they often rule more than a century and give them the ability to heal their bodies if they are poisoned or wounded, which makes them quite difficult to kill. The gods show up physically every six months to receive their sacrifice (human sacrifice). And the people are required to participate in a ritual twice every day, offering "Devotion" to the wizard lords. This devotion somehow enhances their power or health. I pictured the Ori from Stargate when I was reading it.I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to follow despite being told from the perspective of multiple characters. All of the characters were fascinating, not your typical fantasy cast but also not without its tropes. Rhoa's backstory was explored the most in this book, but I look forward to getting to know the other characters better in the rest of the series. I also appreciated how the author balanced the levity of the topics. Despite hardships and failures and loss, each of the characters found something that drove them to persevere. It will be interesting to see what they are able to accomplish together in this series. There were a few twists that caught me off guard. I'm particularly curious about how long Jace will be able to keep his secrets and how Salvon became involved in the first place - it seems like more than luck, but we will see.Overall, this was an excellent beginning to a series that has definitely hooked me. I highly recommend it to older teenagers and adults who love a good adventure into unknown lands.

Jeffrey L. Kohanek's books are wonderful and this new series Wizardoms: Eye of Obscurance (Fate of Wizardoms Book 1) is no exception. So much is happening at the beginning of Eye of Obscurance I had to reread several chapters to just to establish each character and their involvement in the story. Wow it starts off fast and doesn't let up. The pace and action is exciting, the storyline is intricately woven with jealousy, mad wizards with god like powers and seemingly simple characters like a thief and an acrobat and old storyteller and a dwarf that play their parts oh so well. The wondrous magical tale of Wizardoms: Eye of Obscurance pulls you in and doesn't let you go until the very end. That's what I call a good book.I was given a free copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I was bored through most of this book. Overall, it strikes me it was written quickly with word count a priority. The magic elements were vague, boring, and lacked credibility. The characters were nicely developed, but they lacked depth. Perhaps more of that comes later in the series. The fluff, like the pages of a game similar to what was called Jackrocks when I was a kid, had nothing to do with the story. The plot was a travel log and the world-building wasn't developed that well either. I struggled to keep going through it. It's an okay escape, but I can't really recommend it.

A good range of interesting characters and points of view (definitely NOT too many characters, this is epic fantasy guys!) this book delivers a great story with a satisfying ending while also setting up what looks to be an epic series.There are a lot of classic, well loved fantasy tropes in this one if that's your thing but also a distinctive setting, in a world divided into wizardoms and ruled by powerful, long-living wizards.

Well written

Well written with an interesting plot line and mechanics, enough detail and depth to help in creating a new worldlooking forward to the next book

A fairly fast-paced tale of magic and intrigue that kept me eagerly turning the pages to the end. Now I look forward to following the heroes into their next adventure.

I loved this book, the introduction to a series which I will definitely be reading.The way the different characters come together, the mysteries of their varied histories and the interactions between them are all great. The locations are well thought out and described with enough detail to make visualisation easy - but not too much that it becomes an exercise in looking up synonyms just to prove how clever the author is!It took me a few chapters before the term Wizardom made sense but once I did I thought that was very clever too.The story and the plot lines wind their way through the book with different levels from minor to history changing. The characters are believable and the story brings together a band with different abilities, much like a more standard fantasy novel, but with the author's own slant on their 'classes' which I very much appreciated. As with any good series, the book stands alone with its own plot but is part of a larger story and is well written enough that I want to read the next book straight away. I am looking forwards to seeing how the characters and their relationships with each other develop as well.I am not easily impressed with new fantasy literature these days but this is a great book and I thoroughly recommend it.